Junius Daniel

Junius Daniel (27 June 1828-13 May 1864) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Daniel was born to an esteemed North Carolina family, and he raised his own brigade to fight in the Army of Northern Virginia during the war. Daniel was mortally wounded at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864.

Biography
Junius Daniel was born in Halifax, North Carolina in 1828 to a prominent family, and he graduated from West Point 33rd in a class of 42 cadets in 1851. In 1852, Daniel was sent to the New Mexico Territory as a US Army soldier, serving under Richard S. Ewell during skirmishes with the Apache Native Americans on the frontier. In 1858, he resigned his commission to become a planter in Louisiana, and he decided to offer his services to the Confederate States of America when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. He formed his own North Carolina brigade and joined the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862, rising to the rank of Brigadier-General on 1 September 1862. Daniel saw little action until the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, in which his brigade took McPherson's Ridge from the Union. His brigade suffered greater losses than any other Confederate brigade in his corps on the first day of the battle, and he galloped around his men and rallied them to continue the attack. After Gettysburg, his brigade fought in northern Virginia, and Daniel led his brigade in a fierce counterattack against the Mule Shoe salient at Spotsylvania Court House in 1864. Daniel was struck in the abdomen by a Minie ball during the battle, and he died of his wounds on 13 May, a day later.